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Sega Saturn/Technical Specifications
This page details the hardware specs of the Sega Saturn video game console. Technical Specifications Processors *'Main CPU': 2x Hitachi SH-2 @ 28.63636 MHz **'Configuration': Master/Slave **'2x CPU cores': 32‑bit RISC instructions/registers, 74.454536 MIPS (37.227268 MIPS each, 1.3 MIPS per MHz), up to 4 instructions/cycle (2 instructions/cycle per SH-2) **'2x DMA units': 2x DMAC (Direct Memory Access Controller), parallel processing **'4x internal fixed‑point math processors': 2x MULT multiplier DSP, 2x DIVU division units, parallel processing ***'2x MULT multiplier DSP': 57.27272 MOPS fixed-point math (28.63636 MOPS per SH-2) ***'2x DIVU division units': 16/32/64-bit division, 1,468,531 divides/sec **'Bus width': 64‑bit (2× 32‑bit) internal, 32‑bit external **'Word length': 32-bit *'System coprocesor': Custom Saturn Control Unit (SCU), with DSP for geometry processing and DMA controller for system control **'System control processor': 32‑bit fixed‑point registers/instructions, interrupt controller, DMA controller, 3 DMA channels **'Math coprocessor': Geometry DSP @ 14.31818 MHz, 32‑bit fixed‑point instructions, 6 parallel instructions per cycle, 85.90908 MIPS (6 MIPS per MHz) *'CD‑ROM CPU': Hitachi SH-1 32‑bit RISC processor @ 20 MHz (20 MIPS) (controlling the CD‑ROM) **Contains internal DAC and internal math processor **'Bus width': 32‑bit internal, 16‑bit external *'Microcontroller': Hitachi HD40492038 (4‑bit MCU) "System Manager & Peripheral Control" (SMPC) @ 4 MHz **'RTC': 1 MHz (real‑time clock) **'Instruction set': 4‑bit instructions, 890 ns per instruction, 1.123595 MIPS **'Bus width': 10‑bit internal, 8‑bit external *'Optional MPEG Video CD Card': **'MPEG Video decoder': Sega P/N 315-5765 (Hitachi HD814101FE) **'MPEG Audio decoder': Hitachi HD814102F *'Sound processor': Yamaha SCSP (Saturn Custom Sound Processor) YMF292 **'Sound DSP': Yamaha FH1 DSP (Digital Signal Processor) @ 22.58 MHz (24‑bit, 128‑step, 4 parallel instructions) **'Bus width': 24‑bit internal, 16‑bit external *'Sound CPU': Motorola 68EC000 (16/32‑bit CISC) sound processor @ 11.29 MHz (1.97575 MIPS) **'Bus width': 16‑bit internal, 16‑bit external Video Processors: *'Sega/Hitachi VDP1 @ 28.63636 MHz': Handles sprite/texture and polygon drawing **'Bus width': 48‑bit (3x 16‑bit) **'Word length': 16-bit *'Sega/Yamaha VDP2 @ 28.63636 MHz': Backgrounds, scrolling, handles background, scroll and 3D rotation planes **'Bus width': 32‑bit **'Word length': 32-bit *'Sony CXA1645M RGB‑Composite Video Encoder' Graphics *'Graphics pipeline': **'3 DSP geometry processors': 2× SH-2 DSP, SCU DSP **'2 VDP rendering processors': VDP1 for sprites/textures/polygons, VDP2 for planes/backgrounds/textures *'Video clock rate': 28.63636 MHz MHz (NTSC), 28.4375 MHz (PAL) **'NTSC dot clock': 7.15909 MHz (lo-res), 14.31818 MHz (hi-res) **'PAL dot clock': 7.109375 MHz (lo-res), 14.21875 MHz (hi-res) *'Display resolutions': 320×224 to 704×480 **'NTSC overscan resolution': 453×263 (lo-res), 907×263 (hi-res) **'PAL overscan resolution': 454×313 (lo-res), 908×313 (hi-res) *'Refresh rate': 30–60 Hz (NTSC), 25–50 Hz (PAL) **'Maximum frame rate': 60 FPS (NTSC), 50 FPS (PAL) *'Color depth': 15-bit RGB to 32‑bit RGBA (24‑bit color with 8‑bit alpha transparency) **'Color palette': 16,777,216 (VDP2), 32,768 (VDP1) **'Colors on screen': 256 to 16,777,216 (VDP2), 256 to 32,768 (VDP1) **'VDP2 colors per background': 16 colors (4-bit) to 16,777,216 colors (24-bit) **'VDP1 colors per sprite/polygon': 16 colors (4-bit) to 32,768 colors (15-bit) **'CLUT': Virtually unlimited number of CLUTs *'DSP geometry processing': 188 MIPS (million instructions per second) **'Fixed-point operations': 114 MOPS (million operations per second) **'Additions': 85 million adds/sec **'Multiplications': 85 million multiplies/sec **'16-bit divisions': 5 million divides/sec *'Geometry calculations': 114 MOPS fixed-point calculations **'Vertex transformations': 2,400,000 vertices/sec **'Polygon transformations': 1,800,000 polygons/sec **'T&L flat lighting': 800,000 polygons/sec **'T&L Gouraud lighting': 700,000 polygons/sec *'Transmission bus bandwidth': 143 MB/s **'DSP–VDP transmission bus': 114.54544 MB/s **'VDP1–VDP2 transmission bus': 28.63636 MB/s *'Fillrate': **'Bitmap/Framebuffer fillrate': 26–28 MPixels/s (24-bit color), 82–85 MPixels/s (15-bit color), 143–150 MPixels/s (8-bit color), 250–264 MPixels/s (4-bit color) **'Tile fillrate': 280–570 MPixels/s *'Optional MPEG Video CD Card': 704×480 resolution, 30 frames/sec, 16‑bit audio with 44.1 kHz sampling, up to 72 minutes on one CD SCU DSP *'SCU math coprocessor': Geometry DSP @ 14.31818 MHz, 32‑bit fixed‑point instructions **'Parallel units': 32/48-bit ALU (arithmetic logic unit), 48/64‑bit Multiplier, 32-bit instruction decoder *'Buses': **'Internal': 4 parallel buses, 32-bit per bus, 128-bit overall bus width, 3 buses at 14.31818 MHz, 1 bus at 28.63636 MHz **'External': 32-bit, 28.63636 MHz *'Cache RAM': 2 KB (1 KB data, 1 KB program) *'Instructions': 6 parallel instructions/cycle (one instruction per unit/bus), 85.90908 MIPS (6 MIPS/MHz) **'Fixed-point operations': 28.63636 MOPS (million operations per second), 2 MOPS/MHz (2 parallel operations/cycle) *'Capabilities': Matrix and vector calculations, 3D point transformations, lighting calculations, fixed-point calculations, faster than SH-2, can use DMA to directly fetch and store vertex data, floating-point operations, geometry transformations, voxel rendering acceleration, fast coordinate transformations, lighting computations, transparency calculations *'Notes': Can only be programmed with assembly language, more difficult to program than SH-2 VDP1 *'VDP1 @ 28.63636 MHz': Handles sprite/texture and polygon drawing, color calculation and shading, geometry **'Versions': Sega 315‑5883 (Hitachi HD64440) Video Display Processor 1 (VDP1), Sega 315‑5689 VDP1 **'Adjustable video clock rate': 28.63636 MHz or 26.8465875 MHz (NTSC), 28.4375 MHz or 26.8426 MHz (PAL) **'Parallel data bus structure': 3 parallel data buses (dual framebuffers, texture cache), 48-bit data bus width (16-bit per bus), 171.8184 MB/s bandwidth **'Parallel data bus cycles': 85.90908 million bus cycles/sec *'Color palette': 32,768 colors (15-bit RGB) to 16,777,216 (24-bit VDP2 CRAM palette, accessible by VDP1) **'Colors on screen': 32,768 colors (15-bit RGB) to 1,048,576 colors (15-bit RGB, 32 transparency levels using VDP2 palette) **'Colors per pixel': 32,768 colors (16bpp, 15-bit RGB), 256 colors (8bpp, 8-bit palette) *'Features': Alpha blending, clipping, luminance, shadows, transparency (3 alpha levels, or 32 alpha levels using VDP2 palette), per-pixel transparency **'Polygon capabilities': Texture mapping, lighting, shading, wire‑frame, flat shading, Gouraud shading, 15-bit color Gouraud shading, 15-bit colored lighting, quad polygons, edge anti‑aliasing, forward texture mapping (form of perspective correction), bilinear approximation (reduces texture warping), medium polygon accuracy (seamless polygons) *'Framebuffer capabilities': Double buffering, dual 256 KB framebuffers, rotation & scaling, VDP1 framebuffer can be rotated as bitmap layer by VDP2 **'Framebuffer resolution': 512×256, 512×512, 1024×256 **'Overscan resolution': 1708×263 (NTSC), 1820×313 (PAL), 852×525 (31KC), 848×562 (HDTV) *'Sprite/Texture capabilities': Rotation & scaling, flipping, distortion, warping, vertical and horizontal line scrolling, virtually unlimited color lookup tables, System 24/32 sprite rendering system **'Sprite/Texture size': 8×1 to 504×255 texels **'Colors per sprite/texture in Lo-Res': 16, 64, 128, 256, and 32,768 **'Colors per sprite/texture in Hi-Res': 16, 64, 128, and 256 **'Maximum texels per scanline': 1812 (NTSC), 1820 (PAL) **'Maximum sprites/textures per scanline': 226 (NTSC), 227 (PAL) *'Texture cache VRAM': 512 KB **'Sprite/Polygon size': 32 bytes (flat shading), 40 bytes (Gouraud shading), 64–96 bytes (shadows), 72–104 bytes (shadows, Gouraud shading) **'Texture size': 4 bytes (8×1 texels, 16 colors) to 251.02 KB (504×255 texels, 32,758 colors) **'Maximum sprites per frame': 16,383 (virtually unlimited), 13,106 (Gouraud shading), 5461–8191 (shadows) **'Maximum polygons per frame': 16,384 (flat shading), 16,383 (texture mapping), 13,107 (Gouraud shading), 13,106 (texture mapping, Gouraud shading), 8192 (shadows), 8191 (texture mapping, shadows), 7281 (texture mapping, shadows, Gouraud shading) *'Framebuffer fillrate': 28.63636 MPixels/s (16bpp), 35.6465 MPixels/s (8bpp) **'Gouraud shading': 28 MPixels/s (512×512 polygons), 16 MPixels/s (10×10 polygons) **'Shadows/Translucency': 28 MPixels/s (VDP2 palette), 5 MPixels/s (RGB) *'Texture fillrate': 19 MTexels/s (504×255 textures), 14 MTexels/s (10×10 textures), 12 MTexels/s (8×8 textures) **'Gouraud shading': 19 MTexels/s (504×255 textures), 9 MTexels/s (10×10 textures) *'Polygon rendering performance': Lighting **'800,000 polygons/s': Flat shading, 32-pixel polygons **'500,000 polygons/s': Flat shading, 50-pixel polygons **'200,000 polygons/s': Gouraud shading, 32-pixel polygons *'Texture mapping performance': Lighting **'300,000 polygons/s': 32-texel textures **'200,000 polygons/s': 70-texel textures **'140,000 polygons/s': Gouraud shading, 32-texel textures VDP2 *'VDP2 @ 57.27272 MHz': Handles background, scroll and 3D rotation planes **'Versions': Sega 315‑5890 (Yamaha) Video Display Processor 2 (VDP2), Yamaha 315‑5690 VDP2 **'Video clock rate': 26.8426–28.63636 MHz (NTSC), 26.6564–28.4375 MHz (PAL) **'Memory clock rate': 53.6852–57.27272 MHz (NTSC), 53.3128–56.875 MHz (PAL) *'VDP2 cores': 4 parallel cores (17 units), 28.63636 MHz per core **Bus control **H/V counter & timing generator **'Scroll picture block': 8 units (Normal picture coordinate calculation, Rotation picture coordinate calculation, Pattern name control, Window control, Character control, Line picture control, VRAM control, Dot data control) **'Video process': 7 units (Color offset & shadow, Output data control, Color computing control, Color RAM, Priority control, Color RAM control, Sprite control) *'Features': Transparency (32 levels of transparency, can also be applied to VDP1 polygons/sprites), shadowing, 2 windows for special calculations, matrix calculations, multi-texturing, bump mapping, color gradients **'3D infinite planes': Can be manipulated as large polygon objects, with perspective transformation and rotation. Can have curved surface and bumps, and be used for grounds, walls, ceilings, seas, skies, etc. **'Visual effects': Water, fire, fog, heat haze, misting, reflective water surfaces *'Rotation picture coordinate calculation': Geometry processing unit within Scroll picture block, rotation and transformation of 3D planes, manipulates 3D planes as very large polygons, 24-bit fixed-point operations, 28.63636 MOPS (million operations per second) *'Planes': 7 layers, 2–6 simultaneous layers (1–4 scrolling 2D backgrounds, 1–2 rotating 3D playfields, 1 back screen) **'2D scrolling backgrounds': Scrolling, parallax scrolling, single-axis 2D rotation ***'NBG0': 16–16,777,216 colors, tilemap (1024×1024 to 2048×2048) or bitmap (512×256 to 1024×512), column/row/line scrolling, scaling ***'NBG1': 16–32,768 colors, tilemap (1024×1024 to 2048×2048) or bitmap (512×256 to 1024×512), column/row/line scrolling, scaling ***'NBG2/NBG3': 16–256 colors, tilemap (1024×1024 to 2048×2048) **'3D rotating playfields': Scrolling, scaling, dual-axis 3D rotation, three-axis 3D rotation, 3D infinite ground planes, perspective correct 3D rotation, can be manipulated as large polygon objects, perspective transformation, can have curved surface and bumps ***'RBG0': 16–16,777,216 colors, tilemap (2048×2048 to 4096×4096) or bitmap (512×256 to 512×512) ***'RBG1': 16–16,777,216 colors, tilemap (2048×2048 to 4096×4096) **'Back screen': 1 plain background, 1 to 240 colors (1 color/scanline) *'Tile capabilities': 8×8 and 16×16 tile sizes, scroll plane up to 8192×8192 pixels, rotating 3D infinite planes up to 4096×4096 pixels each, tile compression, tile-based texture compression, tiled rendering, virtually unlimited draw distance *'Bitmap capabilities': Bitmap layers can be used as additional framebuffer (with full transparency), displays VDP1 framebuffer as additional bitmap layer, can rotate VDP1 framebuffer *'Color palette': 16,777,216 colors (24-bit), 32,768 colors (15-bit), 65,536 colors (15-bit with transparency) **'Colors per plane': 16,777,216 colors (3 planes, Lo-Res), 32,768 colors (4 planes), 16–256 colors (6 planes) *'Bitmap fillrate': **'2D scrolling planes': 26.8426–229.09088 MPixels/s ***'16,777,216 colors on screen': 26.8426–28.63636 MPixels/s ***'32,768 colors per plane': 53.6852–57.27272 MPixels/s ***'256 colors per plane': 107.3704–114.54544 MPixels/s ***'16 colors per plane': 214.7408–229.09088 MPixels/s **'3D rotation planes': 26.8426–28.63636 MPixels/s *'Tile fillrate': 251.65824–534.77376 MPixels/s **'2D scrolling planes': 251.65824–503.31648 MPixels/s ***'Tile fillrate': 3,932,160 tiles/sec, 65,536 tiles per frame **'3D rotating playfields': 251.65824–503.31648 MPixels/s ***'Effective polygon fillrate': 1 million texture-mapped polygons/sec (500-texel polygons) Resolutions Progressive *320×224 (Lo‑Res) *320×240 (Lo‑Res) *320×256 (Lo-Res, PAL) *352×224 (Lo‑Res) *352×240 (Lo‑Res) *352×256 (PAL) *640×224 *640×240 *640×256 (PAL) *704×224 *704×240 *704×256 (PAL) Interlaced *320×448 *320×512 (PAL) *320×480 *352×448 *320×480 *352×512 (PAL) *640×448 (Hi‑Res) *640×480 (Hi‑Res) *640×512 (Hi‑Res, PAL) *704×448 (Hi‑Res) *704×480 (Hi‑Res) *704×512 (Hi‑Res, PAL) Sound *'SCSP @ 22.58 MHz': **'Audio channels': 32 **'Sound formats': PCM, FM, MIDI, LFO **'PCM sampling': 16‑bit and 8‑bit audio depth, 44.1 kHz sampling sate (CD quality), up to 32 PCM channels **'FM synthesis': 1–4 operators per FM channel, up to 32 FM channels (1‑operator) or 8 FM channels (4‑operator) **'LFO waveforms': 4 waveform types (Sawtooth, rectangular, triangular, white noise), up to 32 LFO channels *'CD‑DA': 1 streaming CD‑DA channel (16‑bit PCM, 44.1 kHz) from CD *Stereo audio output Memory *'Total memory': 5–11 MB (5152 KB system, 39,408 bytes cache, 512–5120 KB cartridge, 1 MB card) **'RAM': 4.549–10.049 MB (4640 KB system, 18,928 bytes cache, 512–5120 KB optional cartridge, 512 KB optional card) **'ROM': 532–3092 KB (512 KB system, 20 KB cache, 2 MB optional cartridge, 512 KB optional card) *'System RAM': 4.53125 MB (4640 KB) **'2 MB Work RAM' ***1 MB High Work SDRAM ***1 MB Low Work FPM DRAM **'1.5 MB VRAM' ***512 KB VDP1 texture cache VRAM ***512 KB (2× 256 KB) VDP1 dual framebuffers ***512 KB (512 KB) VDP2 background cache VRAM (tiled texture compression up to 17 MB) **512 KB Sound RAM **512 KB CD‑ROM sub‑system buffer data cache **32 KB battery backup SRAM *'System ROM': 512 KB BIOS *'Internal processor cache': 39,408 bytes (38.484375 KB) **'SH2': 8 KB cache (4 KB per SH2) **'SH1': 4 KB cache **'SCU DSP': 2 KB RAM cache (1 KB program, 1 KB data) **'SMPC': 20,976 bytes (496 bytes 4‑bit RAM, 20 KB 10‑bit ROM) **'VDP2': 4 KB on‑chip color RAM *'Optional cartridge': 512 KB to 4.5 MB **'RAM cartridge': 512 KB to 4.5 MB ***'Extended RAM Cartridge': 1 MB or 4 MB Work RAM ***'Saturn Backup Memory': 512 KB battery backup ***'Pro Action Replay': 512 KB battery backup ***'Action Replay Plus': 4.5 MB ****4 MB Work RAM ****512 KB battery backup **'Saturn ROM Cartridge': 2 MB (The King of Fighters '95) *'Optional MPEG Video CD Card': 1 MB (512 KB FPM RAM buffer, 512 KB MROM program) Configuration System RAM buses, all connected through the SCU: *'System bus' **SH2 (×2), SCU, SMPC <–> Work RAM, battery backup SRAM *'Video sub‑system buses' **SCU <–> VDP1, VDP2 **VDP1 <–> Texture cache VRAM **VDP1 <–> Framebuffer 0 VRAM **VDP1 <–> Framebuffer 1 VRAM **VDP2 <–> Background cache VRAM *'Sound sub‑system bus' — SCU, 68EC000, SCSP <‑> Sound RAM *'CD‑ROM sub‑system bus' — SCU, SH1 <‑> CD‑ROM cache/buffer RAM Bandwidth *'System RAM bandwidth': 480 MB/s **'System bus RAM': 114.54544 MB/s ***'Work RAM': 114.54544 MB/s ***'Battery backup SRAM': 10 MB/s **'VRAM': 286.3636 MB/s ***'VDP1': 171.81816 MB/s ***'VDP2': 114.54544 MB/s (tiled texture compression up to 534 MB/s) **'Sound RAM': 40 MB/s **'CD‑ROM cache/buffer': 40 MB/s *'Internal processor bandwidth': **'SH2 cache': 229 MB/s **'SH1 cache': 80 MB/s **'SCU DSP RAM cache': 286 MB/s **'SMPC': 7 MB/s **'68EC000': 22 MB/s **'SCSP': 67 MB/s **'VDP': 286.3636 MB/s *'System ROM bandwidth': 20 MB/s *'Optional cartridge RAM bandwidth': 44 MB/s to 50 MB/s Storage *'Saturn double-speed CD-ROM drive' **'Storage capacity': 680 MB **'Data transfer rate': 320 KB/s **'Access time': Under 360 ms **'Compatibiity': CD‑ROM, Audio CD, CD+G, CD+EG, CD Single (8cm) **'Optional': Video CD, Photo CD, Digital Karaoke, E-book *'Cartridge slot': Extended RAM Cartridge, Saturn ROM Cartridge Input/Output *Two 16‑bit bidirectional parallel I/O ports *High-speed serial communications port (Both SH2 SCI channels and SCSP MIDI) *Cartridge connector *Internal expansion port for video decoder card *Composite video/stereo (JP Part No: HSS-0106) *NTSC/PAL RF (US Part No.: MK-80116, JP Part No.: HSS-0110) *S-Video compatible (JP Part No.: HSS-0105) *RGB compatible (JP Part No.: HSS-0109) *EDTV compatible (optional) Power Source *AC110 volts; 60 Hz (US) *AC240 volts; 50 Hz (EU) *AC100 volts; 60 Hz (JP) *AC240 volts; 60 Hz (AS) *AC220 volts; 60 Hz (KR) *4 volt lithium battery to power non-volatile RAM and SMPC internal real-time clock *Power Consumption: 25 W External Links *Sega Saturn technical specifications on segaretro.org Category:Hardware